Sasquach:You'd likely need to light yourself on fire to output 25,000 BTU....though 2500 is reasonably possible for periods of very heavy output...

Not at all, it'll just take you 50 - 100 hours. (The correct unit is BTU/hr, and yes it matters when you're playing in the realm of massive radiant systems where both BTU storage and BTU/hr delivery rate are important.)

/2 weeks off work, surprised to see a Fark thread where I can start dusting off the basics

As a sidenote, no way in hell that you can use just low quality waste heat at 70F alone to heat a building via a radiant system. I can heat a building radiantly in any climate with 75F water, but there is at least a 5F approach on the coil recovering that heat. So, you need a waste heat stream around 80F minimum. And that's only if you have a hard core sustainable ME like me.

What is usually done is the warm air stream is used in conjunction with a heat pump to concentrate the heat and boost it up to what the building needs. Neat, yes, but that requires power and more complexity.

The real hard core exciting tech isn't the heat recovery, it is the building design that keeps enough heat in to make very low rate and quality heat sources viable. In particular, the triple element low-e windows and various insulating frames are farking awesome.

Raw_fishFood:duffblue: Would Iceland's way of heating their buildings work over in the States?

No, because hippies and communists.

What does that reply even mean? Iceland has as fairly conservative people and government. It's is also one of the most religious nations in the first world next to the U.S. Hippies from Iceland are known to move to neighboring Denmark to get out of the admittedly rough and demanding life of fishing in sub-zero weather for a living, with the longest work week in Europe at around 50 hours per week.

duffblue:Would Iceland's way of heating their buildings work over in the States?

You mean like half of downtown Boise uses? One of the most conservative cities in the country and we're using geothermal to heavily that they can't use any more. You bet your ass we'll rape Mother Earth and use her warm, juicy insides to keep us warm and do it on the cheap.

While it isn't quite up to passive house standards, my 1,000 sq.ft. house only requires some 6,000 BTU of heat to maintain a comfortable 73 degrees, down to about 7 degrees below freezing outside.

It's amazing what R-60 worth of insulation in the ceiling and R-40 in the floors, along with detailed air sealing can do for your utility costs. Toss in a mini-split heat pump, heat pump water heater, energy recovery ventilator and 3.8KW of solar panels, and you have yourself a self sufficient home, that is largely heated by the television and the body heat of the occupants.

It's hard to get excited over such a very old idea, but Diane Ackerman manages to do so. Next thing you know she'll be puzzling over how architects deal with excess body heat on warmer days and she'll have a whole new topic for another article.

ThrobblefootSpectre:Raw_fishFood: duffblue: Would Iceland's way of heating their buildings work over in the States?

No, because hippies and communists.

What does that reply even mean? Iceland has as fairly conservative people and government. It's is also one of the most religious nations in the first world next to the U.S. Hippies from Iceland are known to move to neighboring Denmark to get out of the admittedly rough and demanding life of fishing in sub-zero weather for a living, with the longest work week in Europe at around 50 hours per week.

LewDux:Gallup poll conducted in 2011 found that 60% of Icelanders considered religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, one of the highest rates of irreligion in the world.[2]"

Heh, from your own link it shows 76% of people who belong to the Church of Iceland, and another 11% christian. That's 88% right there, not counting other religions. Non-religious and "unimportant in their daily lives" is apparently two different things. Even in the U.S. the number of people who check "none" on a religion survey is 20%. More than iceland.

ThrobblefootSpectre:LewDux: Gallup poll conducted in 2011 found that 60% of Icelanders considered religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, one of the highest rates of irreligion in the world.[2]"

Heh, from your own link it shows 76% of people who belong to the Church of Iceland, and another 11% christian. That's 88% right there, not counting other religions. Non-religious and "unimportant in their daily lives" is apparently two different things. Even in the U.S. the number of people who check "none" on a religion survey is 20%. More than iceland.

"However, these statistics are by some considered misleading since most people are automatically registered as members of the Church of Iceland"

and from talk page "I second that I am an atheist but it's just too complicated and problematic to try to get signed out of the church (I live in Iceland)."

LewDux:"However, these statistics are by some considered misleading since most people are automatically registered as members of the Church of Iceland"

Ah, now that I didn't know. Automatically by who? The government?

Still by European standards it is considered a religious nation, the most religious. The U.S. has more non-religious. However, from a U.S. perspective, we have to keep in mind we are talking about a nation with about the population of St. Louis Missouri too.

ThrobblefootSpectre:LewDux: "However, these statistics are by some considered misleading since most people are automatically registered as members of the Church of Iceland"

Ah, now that I didn't know. Automatically by who? The government?

Still by European standards it is considered a religious nation, the most religious. The U.S. has more non-religious. However, from a U.S. perspective, we have to keep in mind we are talking about a nation with about the population of St. Louis Missouri too.

The most religious nations in Europe were Italy and Poland - overwhelmingly Catholic countries - with about 87 percent of their citizens claiming to be religious.

..

Meanwhile, Germany, Austria and Switzerland had an average 70 percent religious population and about 20 percent highly religious population.Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/study-reveals-most-religious-nations -in-the-world-30562/#Pqblq8MxQY2eKIf1.99Whar is Iceland? Whar?